Timothy Olden, a truck driver hailing from North Chesterfield, VA, has been recognized as a Highway Angel by the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) after assisting multiple crash victims on a rainy highway. Olden drives for Decker Truck Lines in Fort Dodge, IA.
On July 20, 2023, around 2 p.m., Olden was driving in the vicinity of Stratton, CO on I-70 when he came up on a recent accident scene. A car had veered into the median and was subsequently hit by a pickup truck towing a camper. Without hesitation, Olden promptly pulled over and sprung into action, employing his fire extinguisher as he noticed the smoking wreckage.
“The car was smoking and everybody was still inside,” Olden said. “On the passenger side you couldn’t even get the doors open— they were caved in.”
Together, he and a flatbed driver from a different company were able to safely remove the passengers from the smoking vehicles.
“We had to break the rear window out to unlock it so we could get the front door unlocked,” Olden said. Inside the car were lawn chairs, so he made sure they grabbed the chairs out of the car and set them up so the crash victims would have somewhere to sit off the road, as it rained profusely.
Olden stayed until the emergency vehicles left, cleared debris from the road, and continued on his journey. When asked about his remarkable efforts, he humbly stated that he was simply doing his duty.
Source: Highway Angel